Social grants being illegally deducted before reaching recipients

Human rights advocacy NGO, Black Sash, have launched a country-wide campaign in a bid tostop illegal debt deductions from the grants of South African Social SecurityAgency (Sassa) beneficiaries.

The "Hands off the Social Grants" campaign was started in November last year followingcomplaints from beneficiaries. The main focus of the campaign is to understandhow the different types of deductions for loans, airtime, electricity and othergoods, occur. According to Sassa officials, the Head office helpline has todate received 330 complaints for these deductions, which are currently beingresolved.

The social assistance legislation stipulates that Sassa can only deduct a maximum of tenpercent (10%) for funeral policies. The rest of the grant amount must be paidout in full to the beneficiaries. However, Black Sash have attributed theintroduction of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) in 2012, to the overwhelmingnumber of complaints about the illegal transactions received by their partners,the Association for Community Advice Offices in South Africa.

According to its website, CPS has since February 2012 --facilitated by its holding companyNET1-- been responsible for distributing the monthly social welfare grants formore than ten million of the beneficiaries. Black Sash says that about 21million people associated to the social grants were required to re-registertheir personal details when Sassa and the Department of Social Developmentintroduced the biometric payment system. In the matter between AllPay, CPS andSassa in November last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that the contractalong with the enrolment and payment of recipients agreement signed in 2012,was constitutionally invalid. The court ordered Sassa to start the tenderprocess within a 30 day period from April this year. CPS will, however,continue distributing the grants until a new tender has been awarded or for theremainder of their current five year contract with Sassa.

Black Sash launched a pilot project in 2012 in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape to get anidea from beneficiaries and consultants of the norms and standards of Sassa'sbasic services. During the compilation of their findings, Black Sash discoveredseveral complaints by beneficiaries who could not account for the deductions ofdebts like airtime and electricity from their accounts. Last week, GroundUpvisited Sassa beneficiary, 65-year-old Esme Catherine Pamplin of Heideveld. SinceFebruary this year, Pamplin has had over R100 deducted from her bank accounteach month for electricity and airtime. The deductions not only forced theirfamily to cut back on essential goods, but had a negative impact on herwell-being.

Black Sash has been highlighting cases like Mrs Pamplin to Sassa, the Department of SocialDevelopment and the South African Reserve Bank. In 2013, with the support ofseveral other advocacy groups, Black Sash wrote an open letter to SocialDevelopment Minister Bathabile Dlamini and several other departments andorganisations. Black Sash and their partners met with Dlamini in January thisyear. During the meeting, a ministerial task team was elected to exploresolutions to the problem.

Lynette Maart, Black Sash's national director, said the aim of the campaign was to stopthe deductions and for beneficiaries to be reimbursed. "We want to understandthe different types of deductions which will help to try and stop them fromhappening. It's a widespread problem across South Africa," she said. Maart saidbeneficiaries were often left without enough money to pay for basic goods likegroceries for the month.

"Not having enough money to buy basic essentials is an issue. In many cases, children ofthe grant holders are blamed for using their ID numbers and documents to buyairtime. This ultimately causes stress within the family," she said. Maart saidmost of the beneficiaries affected by the deductions, often lived with constantdebt. "By the time they get their monthly grants, it is already owed to a moneylender. People have no control over the money taken from their accounts. Whenbeneficiaries try and get resources, they struggle so much, they just give upin the end," she said.

National advocacy manager at Black Sash, Elroy Paulus, has recently visited Diazville inSaldanha Bay where a number of beneficiaries have had their grants deducted,mostly for electricity. "There are many violations being committed. If grantsare used as collateral for other payments, then the grant can be taken away andthe beneficiary criminally charged. Reckless lending by loan sharks is also abig problem," Paulus said.

Sassa spokesperson Shivani Wahab said the majority of the beneficiaries were notaffected. "We are aware that there are some deductions that are disputed bybeneficiaries. They need to call CPS to request for the amounts deducted to bereimbursed to them. CPS will investigate the matters and pay any wrongdeductions made back to beneficiaries," she said. Wahab cautioned beneficiariesagainst marketing companies requesting personal details to sell airtime andother products.

Grant recipients get a Mastercard with which to withdraw their grants. She said itwas important for beneficiaries to keep their pin numbers and Mastercardconcealed. "It also happens that family members and children of beneficiariesget hold of the Sassa card and its pin number to buy items. Syndicates also gethold of the cell numbers of beneficiaries and buy airtime against thosenumbers. These problems are dealt with on a national level," she said. Wahaburged beneficiaries that need assistance or need to be reimbursed to call thetoll free helpline at 0800 60 01 60.